The famous Ballet of the Kyiv Opera after the 13 sold out performances of Cinderella at the Athens Concert Hall in 2009, is coming to Athens again, at the Badminton Theater, to enchant young and old alike with the most beautiful Christmas tale, the NUTCRACKER!
Hoffman's fairy tale "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", it was adapted 1816 by Alexander Dumas, who with great sensitivity turned the story of The Nutcracker into a tender children's tale that is read to this day.
The 1891, Marius Petipa, choreographer of the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, decided to choreograph Alexandre Dumas' arrangement and commissioned Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to compose the music. The solemn premiere of the ballet took place on 18 of December 1892. In Western Europe, presented for the first time in London, at 30 January of 1934 while in America it was presented for the first time only in 1944 in the city of San Francisco.
Since then the ballet has been choreographed by many choreographers, such as Georges Balanchine, Rudolf Nureyev, Michael Barysnikov et al. Although the Nutcracker has been presented from time to time with different stage approaches and choreographies, Tchaikovsky's genius music remains unchanged over time and is, generally speaking, one of the most wonderful and recognizable pieces of music ever written, bringing together most recordings of the classical repertoire.
The Nutcracker is presented every year in all the capitals of the world because it is the best gift for children on Christmas days.
THE TALE OF THE NUTCRACKER
FIRST ACT
Clara celebrates Christmas Eve with her parents like every year, her brother and her friends. Exchange gifts, they dance, they play and decorate the tree.
Clara's godfather, Drosselmeier, a strange magician and maker of magic games, is entertaining the children with various toys when suddenly a doll appears, a Nutcracker.
No kid wants him except Clara who starts dancing with him. Clara's brother, Fritz, fighting with her, takes the doll and throws it away. The party ends and all the kids go to sleep.
It's midnight. Clara can't sleep, gets up, she goes to the tree holding her beloved Nutcracker and falls asleep there. The Christmas tree grows and grows and everything loses its proportions. Clara is dreaming…
Suddenly the room transforms and an army of mice pops out of the walls scaring Clara. All the Nutcracker-led games come to life and start a mouse fight.
At the moment when everything seems to indicate that the Mouse King has defeated the Nutcracker, Clara throws her slipper at the King and saves the Nutcracker.
This act of Clara's, moves Drosselmeyer and transforms the Nutcracker into a Prince.
SECOND ACT
The Prince asks Clara to take her to his palace. So, begins a magical journey to the land of Fantasy. During the trip, they pass through various strange places, from the land of the Snow Queen, from the land of Sweets, they meet the Sugar Fairy and reach the land of Flowers. There, lovely flakes swirl to the rhythm of the waltz.
The snowflakes help Clara and the Prince get through a storm with their light until they reach the Prince's Magical Land where a beautiful palace full of toys awaits them.
In their honor, a festival of dances from all countries of the world begins, Arabia, India, China, Russia…
But the night passes quickly and it is dawn.
Clara wakes up under the tree, without her new friends, holding the Nutcracker doll in her arms and thinking of the wonderful memories of that magical Christmas.
Kyiv Opera Ballet
The ballet of the Kyiv National Opera in Ukraine was founded in 1860 and very quickly established itself internationally as one of the famous dance groups of the whole world. One of the first successes of the Ensemble was the premiere of Tchaikovsky's Oprichnik ballet presented in 1874, in the presence of the composer himself who congratulated them on their excellent performance.
In fact, Tchaikovsky insisted that all his operas and ballets be performed at the Ukrainian National Opera in Kiev, as he considered this theater to be similar and equal to that of Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
Today the Group has 24 complete ballets in his repertoire, which makes it the group with the richest repertoire in classical dance. With this rich heritage he has toured most countries of the world and has been enjoyed by more than 40 millions of viewers, who have been enchanted by the artistic and technical excellence of his dancers who are among the best in the world.
It should be noted that famous names of the dance art of the 20th century, such as Vaslav Nijinsky and Serge Lifar, were born in Kyiv. After the 1950 the Kyiv Opera and its ballet experienced a new heyday, as he was surrounded by young and talented artists. The 1964 the Kyiv Ballet participated in the International Festival of Classical Dance in Paris and several of its soloists received great honors. Great dance stars have collaborated with him: Serge Lifar, Maya Plisetskaya, Anna Pavlova, Marina Timofeeva, Irina Kolpakova et al. as did the great dancer Vladimir Malakhov.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky-The Nutcracker-Kiev Opera Ballet
Six unique performances at the Badminton Theatre
Premiere
Christmas 25 December on 20:00
Other shows
Monday 26 December on 16:00
Monday 26 December on 20:00
Tuesday 27 December on 20:00
Wednesday 28 December on 20:00
Thursday 29 December on 20:00
